Author's Note: Please Read- Yes, I am starting this story right as the tournament begins in my other story. I just wanted to get this out there before I forget about it. This story will also involve music, that's just how I role. So I ask that when a song appears, you listen to the song by any means you wish. I'm not entirely sure how this story will go, I only have the beginning planned out.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the music played in this story.

Thanks for Reading!

Archangel-Angelo

The Journey Begins

Prologue

Phantom Lord. It was once one of the strongest guilds in all of Fiore. Said to be of equal strength to Fairy Tail. But as their headquarters lays in ruins, one of Fiore's strongest guilds is no more.

They had just recently attacked the guild said to be their only equal. And they were defeated, by that guild. Their reason foul. Besides for their cruel pride and petty jealousy, they had received a request. A mission to find a missing girl. The requester, Jude Heartfilia, one of Fiore's richest men in history. The girl, his daughter, a run away and a Fairy Tail mage.

This story is not what happened during this epic battle of good versus evil. No, this story is of what happened after the battle. About how this young seventeen year old tries to right the wrong that began with her, so very long ago. Her name is Lucy Hearfilia, and this is her story.

Chapter 1: Phantom Lord No More

Lucy looked up at the building being renovated, fixed. Not even one week before that day, another guild, Phantom Lord, had attacked her guild, Fairy Tail. They had been after her. Her father had ordered them to capture her and bring the blond back to him. Lucy new that her father, Jude Heartfilia, would try to get her to come back, in some way or form. But she had not expected him to be prepared to destroy her second home.

All that week, members of the guild had been working on the guild building. Making it bigger and better than before. She had tried to help out as well, but she was to weak to help. This only added to the guilt she felt inside.

Her friends had constantly given her their encouragements. Telling her that it wasn't her fault, that she was not to be blamed for the misdeeds of her father. But Lucy knew the truth. The only reason this had happened was because she had run away from home. If Lucy had stayed then maybe her friends, her new family, would all be happy, safe, and out of danger from another attack. Thoughts like these were always haunting Lucy, making her feel worse and worse.

She felt guilty for the deadly attack. The celestial mage wanted to make it right, and there was only one way she knew how. With a mind set, the young teen walked around the construction site, looking for her master.

As she was walking around, Levy, Lucy's best friend in the world, ran up to the blond, the other teens blue hair bouncing. "Lu-chan! What are you doing out here? You should be working on your book! You promised I would be the first to read it remember?"

Lucy remembered. With the guild being rebuilt, the aspiring writer had plenty of free time on her hands. Free time she used on writing her novel, trying to distract her from the guilty thoughts that plagued her mind. At least something useful came out of this. Lucy thought, smiling at her best friend.

Lucy, hoping to find her master quickly, responded, "I know, I was just looking for master. I wanted to talk to him about something."

Levy, confused by this, faced her friend, eyes squinted, asked, "He's in the basement, drinking. No surprise there really. Why?"

Lucy, telling only half the truth, said sheepishly, "Oh, nothing. Just a little surprise for everyone, is all." With that, the blond walked away. Levy stared after her, wondering what kind of surprise it would be. Unable to decide, she walked away, off to do things that only Levy's do.

...

Lucy looked around Fairy Tail's basement. She spotted her old master, Makarov, sitting on the makeshift bar. Drinking, just like Levy had said. The blond walked up to the powerful mage. She could smell the alcohol in the air, yet he wasn't drunk. He was close, but not quite yet.

"Master, may I speak with you in private?" The blond whispered.

Makarov looked up from his mug, a little tipsy, and said, "Why? Whatever you need to say, you can say here in front of witnesses."

Tears appeared in the blond's eyes, she had wanted to get this over with quickly. "Master! This is important! I want to throw a surprise for the guild. There are a few small things as well, though."

Makarov saw the tears appear in the girl's eyes. Now aware of what was going on, set down his mug. "Alright, Lucy. We can talk in the storage room. Follow me." The Fairy Tail master jumped off the bar, and walked to a small door to the left. He waved for Lucy to follow, then walked through the door.

Lucy did as she was told. As the blond walked through the door, she quickly closed it as well. Once done, she turned to face her master. He wore a look of all seriousness. "Thank you for seeing me, master."

"My pleasure Lucy. What is it you need to talk about?" Makarov questioned. He could tell already he wasn't going to like this.

"Well... would... would you prefer the happy, good stuff first, or the bad, unhappy stuff first?" Lucy knew that she needed to tread lightly. That this conversation could easily go down hill for her.

Makarov, surprised by this answer, quickly stated, "Let's go with the bad first, maybe the good will lighten the mood afterwords."

Lucy giggled at his reply, then told him her request. "I-I was hoping you would allow me to go on a leave of absence, sort of speak."

The old master frowned at this. He did not want to let her go, but he needed to know the reason why first. "Lucy, I only have one question. Why? Why do something on such a grand scale?"

Lucy chose her words carefully. She was fully aware of what was at stake. "Master, I'll answer your question with another. Have you ever had someone close to you get hurt? To regret that, to feel as if it's entirely your fault?" Makarov nodded. He knew the feeling all to well. "Well that's why. You and the rest of the guild may not think it was my fault, but I do. Phantom Lord came after me. My father hired them to come after me. And he will do so again." Lucy paused. Waiting for a sign to go on. After none came, she continued anyways.

"That's why I need to go. I need to train so that I don't have to rely on everyone else. So that I can start protecting them. I know I'm being selfish, but..." Lucy was starting to tear up again. She wasn't ready yet. But the sooner the better. "But this is something I need to do. For myself. I couldn't live with it if someone died trying to protect me."

Makarov took all this in. He had never realized how deep Lucy's guilt ran. But he also realized that what she said was true. Her father would go after the guild again. But now he was faced with more questions. "How long would you plan to be gone? How would you train? Are you going to tell anyone else?"

Lucy shook. She knew this would not be easy, but she hadn't expected it to be this hard. Tears were falling down her face now. Even though she expected questions to be asked, she had not taken time to think her answers through. At them, she panicked."I-I'm not sure. Maybe two years, probably four. I'm going to need time to get everything straightened out."

Makarov was shocked. He had thought she would be gone for only a month, maybe two, three at most. But four years! He didn't know what to think anymore. But this was her decision, and he was going to respect it. "Huh, alright. You may go. But how will you train?"

Lucy was surprised to hear her master agree so readily. It made her feel somewhat unwanted. She was sure he had his reasons, though, and the she wasn't going to question them.

She thought through her answer. Weighing the different options. I could find another guild to join for a while. Or I could just wonder around the continent, searching for keys and other celestial mages to help her. Or she could travel around the only the country, staying within the border of Fiore.

After several minutes, she had decided. "I-I think I'll travel around the continent. I've finished my first book, I could get it published and earn money that way. Maybe even get inspiration for a sequel." The blond teen explained he plan, actually getting excited for the adventure to come.

Makarov looked at the floor. A grim expression on his face. If she were to travel all over the continent, she would need more than four years. Six at least. He did not approve of the plan, but just as he told himself minutes before. It was Lucy's decision, he would allow her to decide her own fate.

"If you're going to travel that much, you're going to need more than four years, at least six." The old man explained. "Also, I do not think it's wise to tell the other members of your plans, especially your old team. That may only make it more difficult for you."

Lucy froze, she had forgotten about the others. What will they do? How will they react? Master is right, I shouldn't tell them. It took Lucy some time before she calmed down enough to speak again, but Makarov waited patiently. When she was, she agreed with the powerful wizard. "You're right, I think. It would be bad to tell the others."

Makarov and Lucy stood there quietly for a while. After a bit of time passed on, the awkward silence was broken when Makarov spoke up. "Lucy, you said you had some good news as well?"

Lucy looked up, surprised. She had been planning the day and how she would leave. "Oh, yes. I did. Well... um... it's not necessarily good news, but it might make leaving easier." Lucy paused, Makarov looked down to the floor nodding. The teen continued, "I would like to put on a small concert tonight. Sing a song for everyone. Cheer them up, or something like that. I haven't chosen a song yet, though."

Makarov looked into Lucy's eyes, trying to see if she were hiding anything from him. He could not tell, however, because suddenly Mira jane walked into the storage room. "Master, I think a concert would be a great idea! it could really excite everyone and speed up the building process!"

Lucy looked at Mira horrified, how much had she heard? Makarov spoke up first though, "Mira! Were you eavesdropping on us?"

Mira, who just realized her mistake, quickly defended herself. "What? No! No, no! You both were back here for a while, so I came to see how you two were doing. And when I got to the door I heard Lucy talk about the concert! Oh, I'm so excited! I'll go set everything up for tonight!" Mira ran out of the room then.

Makarov looked at Lucy to see her looking at her feet. Fear was still etched on her face. The powerful old mage gave her some words of encouragement, "Don't worry, Lucy. I doubt Mirajane heard anything else." Lucy looked up and smiled weakly. "Now you run home and pack. Talk with your landlord about your apartment, tell them that Fairy Tail will be paying the rent while your gone."

Lucy was shocked. She couldn't believe the offer her master was giving her, "A-a-are you sure? I mean, that's quite expensive and-" The blond was unable to finish her sentence, for Makarov interrupted her.

"Don't worry, my child. Everything will be fine. I will handle it." The Fairy Tail master reassured.

"Well, alright. If you're sure..."

"Don't worry. Just go pack." He then added as an afterthought. "And pick out the song you'll be singing, too."

"Right, by Master!" With that, the blond left. Lucy ran all the way to her apartment.

She packed all her clothes away into her suitcase. She then took two of the three binders on her desk and put them into her bag. These had the beginnings of other books she was writing. She also took two books from her shelf, and put them in the bag as well. These were the book she had already written. One would go to Levy, the other, a publishing company.

The blond teen packed the rest of what she would need. When that was done, she threw all the food she had away, which wasn't very much anyways.

When Lucy finally finished these chores of hers, she went to her desk and opened up the last binder. This binder housed the songs she had written over the past few years, and still liked. She flipped through the pages, searching for the perfect song. When she found the right song at last, she sang it a few times, remembering he lyrics. It took her some time, but she eventually got it down.

Lucy looked at her clock, she had about one hour till the concert. Lucy thought back to when she had been running back to her apartment. Mirajane had stopped Lucy to tell her that the concert was at seven. The young teen chuckled at the memory, then exited her home. Down a few houses, Lucy walked, until she arrived at her landlady's home.

Not even two seconds after Lucy nocked on the door did her landlord appear. "Hello, Lucy. How can I help you?"

"Mrs. Landlady, hi! I need to talk to you about my apartment." Lucy paused as her landlord only watched. "I will be going on a trip to train, and won't be back for a few years, but Fairy Tail says they'll pay for it, so if you could just not sell it to someone else..." Lucy explained.

"Don't worry, Lucy. As long as rent is paid, the room won't be sold. Be safe while training. I don't want to end up with a dead client."

"Y-yes, of course, Mrs. Landlady, thank you!" Lucy then walked back towards the guild, the show would start soon, and it would be the perfect time to leave